The ongoing development of data networks often involves enabling greater connectivity by expanding the area covered by a network and/or improving the robustness of accessible coverage within a particular area. Wireless access points (APs) simplify the deployment network infrastructure equipment and enable rapid installation and/or expansion of a network within a coverage area. As a result, various data networks, from local area networks (LANs) to wide area networks (WANs), now often include a number of wireless APs. Wireless APs also facilitate client device mobility by providing relatively seamless access to a network throughout a coverage area.
In order to satisfy demand, wireless APs include increasingly complicated and power hungry hardware in order to support wireless connectivity. For example, wireless APs typically include several radio frequency (RF) radios in order to both provide sufficient coverage and accommodate various networking protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.15, BLUETOOTH, ZigBee, and the like).
For example, a wireless access point may include two or more RF radios (i.e., radio frequency transceivers) operating in the 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band in accordance with one or more variants specified under IEEE 802.11 or other wireless standards such as IEEE 802.15, BLUETOOTH, or the like. As a result, co-channel interference may occur between the RF radios as they operate in a same frequency band. Spatial diversity between the RF radios can be used to reduce co-channel interference. However, known spatial diversity arrangements suitable for reducing co-channel interference are based on placing RF radios as far apart as possible. In view of a number of factors, there is typically a preference for wireless access points that are relatively small and that have a discreet form factor. As such, using known arrangements, the amount of physical separation between RF radios is limited by the preferred size and form factor of a typical wireless access point.
In accordance with common practice various features shown in the drawings may not be drawn to scale, as the dimensions of various features may be arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. Moreover, the drawings may not depict all of the aspects and/or variants of a given system, method or apparatus admitted by the specification. Finally, like reference numerals are used to denote like features throughout the figures.